


L’ombre noire

by Scarshavestories



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Acceptance, Adoption, Aurors, Child Neglect, Children, Coming Out, Established Relationship, Eventual Fluff, Family, Gender Dysphoria, Harry Potter Next Generation, Hurt/Comfort, Institutionalised Homophobia, I’m sorry if I missed any warnings, M/M, Miscarriage/Stillbirth, Obscurials (Harry Potter), Obscurus (Harry Potter), Please tell me if I did!, Sort of..., Surrogacy, Swearing, Time Skips, Trans Character, Transphobia, tagging is hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2020-01-04 10:20:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18341711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scarshavestories/pseuds/Scarshavestories
Summary: In recent years, a dark shadow has been hanging over the lives of James and Teddy Lupin-Potter. What they don’t realise, is that a different kind of dark shadow is about to enter their lives and prove that sometimes, appearances can be deceiving, and that the light which brings happiness to the darkest of times can come when you’re least expecting it.





	1. Present Day

**Author's Note:**

> I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have completed this fic without the amazing Winter (@acciohelix on Tumblr / WinterTeaCupBook on here) cheering me on and telling me it wasn’t horrible and problematic when I had convinced myself it was. The most massive thank you and shout out to her for all of the advice and suggestions and help with this fic!  
> I wasn’t going to write anything for JeddyFest, but then I opened up the prompt list out of curiosity, saw this prompt and this fic happened. So thank you to @goldentruth813 for the brilliant and very open to interpretation prompt and I’m sorry for what I did with it!  
> Prompt: Teddy and James have been trying for years to have a baby when an opportunity to adopt presents itself.

Teddy knew as soon as he Apparated into the scene that something was very, very wrong. There was fear and panic in the eyes of the few other Aurors he could see, and the noise surrounding the whole area was almost deafening. The initial call had been reasonably routine; a neighbour reporting screaming, shouting and crying from the house next door. A pair of junior Aurors had been sent, but since their arrival things had escalated significantly. Where there had once been a house, lay a slightly smoking, blackened array of partially destroyed walls and broken furniture. Offensive spells were flying everywhere, and Teddy felt his dread rising. It was a miracle no one had been killed yet. In one corner, four Aurors were shielding a shrieking woman, whose wildly flitting eyes gave her a crazed appearance. 

 

Beside him, Teddy’s partner Elsie let out a noise of discontent and muttered “they’ve forgotten it’s a fucking  _ child _ ”. Elsie was one of the longest serving Aurors in the department and had a formidable, no nonsense reputation. At her command, the assembled Aurors immediately stopped erratically firing spells and began moving away from the epicentre of the action to shield bystanders instead. 

 

Teddy surveyed the scene of destruction before him. A rumbling came from above his head, drawing his attention to a dense cloud of black fragments that were shaking violently, like a leaf in the wind. An Obscurus, and a frightened one at that. Teddy sighed, and looked away, to give the rest of the place a quick once-over. His eyes glossed over the area at first, but something drew them back to the severed staircase. It was easy to see why he hadn’t noticed before; the sheer amount of dust and ash could have easily disguised anything. There, sat on the bottom step looking both incredibly tiny and strangely calm, was a little girl. 

 

Teddy didn’t hesitate, didn’t stop to think about anything other than getting to the child as soon as he could. One of the Aurors shielding the woman cried out to him as he strode towards her. Teddy ignored the shouted warning, knowing that the Obscurus still swirling around the ceiling couldn’t possibly be this girl. 

 

She looked up at Teddy as he approached, and visibly shrunk back away from him. Around them, the Obscurus seemed to grumble slightly louder. Teddy gave her a tentative, reassuring smile, and spoke to her as softly as he could while still making himself heard. 

“Hey, I’m Teddy. It’s nice to meet you…”

As he got closer, he saw she was wearing a velvet covered headband with sparkling letters adorned onto it, spelling out what he guessed was her name.

“...Madeline?”

Madeline nodded minutely, her eyes wide, but Teddy sensed it was now at least partly in curiosity as well as fear and shock. 

“May I come and sit with you?”

Madeline nodded again, watching as Teddy took a seat on the stair beside her. 

 

Teddy felt Madeline’s eyes on him as he looked out across the carnage that presumably used to be her home. She was remarkably unfazed by the complete collapse of the house around her, the proximity of a stranger, and the Obscurus still moving ominously along what was left of the ceiling. He was trying to work out how he could best approach the topic of what was going on, when she broke the silence herself. 

“Is you an Auror?”

“Yes, I am.”

“You gonna kill Gwendoline?”

“Kill? No! I don’t want to kill anyone!”

Teddy was sure he hadn’t misheard the child, especially when she gave a small nod, as if she were satisfied with his answer. A thousand questions flew through his mind, making it difficult to work out which to ask first. Was Gwendoline the Obscurial? If the family knew about magic, how had she become an Obscurial?

 

Again, Madeline cut his anxious deliberations short. 

“Aurors gonna kill Gwendoline if she be bad.”

“What? Madeline, who told you that?”

“Mummy.”

“Your Mum told you… The Aurors don’t want to kill anyone, especially not children. OK?”

Madeline gave him a sceptical look that was oddly out of place on such a young face. 

“Madeline… could you tell me what you think Mummy meant when she said ‘bad’?”

“The Aurors was spelling Gwendoline before you was here.”

“Ah. They were, but they weren’t trying to kill her, they were just worried that she could possibly hurt someone because she’s very…  powerful right now.”

Madeline nodded firmly, as if agreeing with something she had already known.

“She be bad.”

Something twisted in Teddy’s gut as Madeline as good as confirmed his suspicion that ‘bad’ meant taking an Obscurus form. 

 

Teddy’s horror had rendered him temporarily speechless, but as he tried to form the next question he needed to ask, a second child appeared. The children were so identical that Teddy would have thought they were the same person if the new child weren’t hiding behind Madeline. Everything was matching; the puffy sleeved peach monstrosity dresses, the unnatural ringlets somehow still in their hair, and the velvet Alice bands emblazoned with their names. The whole ensemble was almost reminiscent of creepy porcelain dolls from the Victorian era, but the expressions on their faces quickly dispelled that notion. Madeline now wore a look which portrayed fragile trust and hope, mixed with something that could have been defiance or challenge. It was a stark contrast to the face beside her, blotched red with tears that still fell from fearful eyes. 

 

Madeline threw her arm around her twin’s shoulders, and for the first time, Teddy could read the name on her hairband; Gwendoline. Gwendoline, who was fragile, vulnerable and clearly scared, but who was also volatile, destructive and potentially dangerous, given the damage she had done to the house as an Obscurial. It was hard to reconcile that devastation with the child currently cowering under her sister’s arm, though. 

“It’s OK! He’s not gonna kill you. He  _ promised  _ to me.”

Madeline looked at Teddy as she said this, almost daring him to contradict her. Instead, he nodded. 

“Definitely not. I’m Teddy, it’s nice to meet you, Gwendoline.”

Teddy was shocked to watch what had been an increasingly curious, less terrified expression turn into a scowl. 

Madeline leant forwards, and spoke to Teddy in what was evidently supposed to be a whisper but somehow failed to be at all quiet. 

“She  _ don’t  _ like be called Gwendoline.”

“She doesn’t like her name?”

Teddy was beginning to grow concerned about the depth of the frown on Gwendoline’s face. He was treading a fine line, and was worried that he would scare her back into Obscurus form again. He was somewhat surprised when she spoke out, still clutching Madeline for support. 

“Gwendoline is a  _ girl’s _ name. I is  _ not  _ a girl!”

At this point, the shrieking woman Teddy presumed was the mother, who had fallen quiet when the child had returned to normal size and shape, recommenced her tirade, only now, her ear-splitting cries were trying to contradict her child’s assertion. 

 

A quick glance at the children was enough to stop Teddy’s mind whirring with questions and make his Hufflepuff instincts kick in. Madeline was looking at him like he still held her faith, even through her fear and protectiveness, but it was her twin’s tear filled eyes that he met with his own. 

“Hey, it’s OK, you don’t have to be a girl.”

The identical, gaping faces might have been comical, if the situation weren’t so serious. 

“Can you tell me who you really are? Who you are on the inside, who you’re supposed to be?”

From the confused, furrowed brow, Teddy could tell that the poor child had never been asked this before. Madeline looked like she might be about to speak for her sibling, so Teddy gently asked her to let her twin answer first. 

“A boy.”

“A boy, yeah? OK. So would you like people to say him and his and he about you?”

Teddy kept eye contact and carefully watched the child’s body language, wanting to be sure he wasn’t missing anything, that he fully understood what was being communicated. When he received a firm nod, confirming that the boy wanted male pronouns, Teddy began to feel like he had a tiny bit more of a grip on the situation.

 

Madeline was now looking decidedly less certain than her brother. 

“You say she a boy. But she my sister, we sisters. Sisters is  _ girls _ .”

“He’s still your twin, no matter whether he’s a girl or a boy, and you’re still his sister, but now, he’s your brother rather than your sister, OK?”

She looked relieved and tightened her grip around his shoulders. 

“Now, Madeline said earlier that you didn’t like being called Gwendoline? You can be a boy and still be called Gwendoline, if you like, or if you would rather be called a different name, then that’s OK too.”

“I don’t want to be Gwendoline.”

“OK, do you know what name you do wan-”

Teddy was cut off by the mother.

“Why don’t you call her FRANKENSTEIN _ - _ ”

She had stolen a wand from one of the Aurors protecting her and cast Sonorus on herself, making her words crystal clear and impossible to ignore. 

“-that’s an appropriate name for a MONSTER-”

Teddy watched her son’s lip start to wobble and tears begin to slide down his cheeks.

“-and that’s what she is, that’s wha-”

Several things happened all at once. There was an almighty, shattering din from very close to Teddy as the Obscurus shot back towards what was left of the ceiling. Elsie, who looked nothing short of murderous, her face coloured red with rage, roughly grabbed the mother by the arm and Disapparated them both away in a whirl of Auror robes and screeching. And Madeline gave a short, distressed, half-wail and started to cry.

 

Teddy ran a hand through his hair and wished he could have just a moment to process, but the child beside him was now shaking with her silent sobs, and it wasn’t in his nature to hesitate before trying to ease her distress. As it turned out, her distress was relatively simple to ease; the arm she’d had wrapped around her brother’s shoulders had been badly jolted by the force of his exit, so after a quick pain relief potion, plus a spell to fix her dislocated shoulder, her tears dried and she began alternating between casting concerned glances up towards the ceiling, and looking back to Teddy with big, wide, innocent eyes. 

 

Before Teddy could open his mouth to even attempt to persuade the boy to stop writhing around as a black mass and sit back down, Elsie returned with a familiar figure. Teddy knew he was there as Head Auror Potter, but he couldn’t help the part of him that sighed a breath of relief now that his Godfather Harry was here to make it all better. 

 

Harry immediately turned to the gathered Aurors and told them to return to the office and start writing their reports up, as if they were standing around gawking, they must obviously have already collected all the witness statements and directed the Obliviators. When they had all hurried off, he looked up and surveyed the Obscurus for a moment, then turned his gaze directly towards Teddy. Beside him, Elsie began to move across the room to where Teddy was still sat on the stairs. 

 

Teddy caught a flinch out of the corner of his eye, and turned to see that Madeline had shrunk back and closer to him, though he didn’t think that was a conscious decision on her part. He lifted his arm up, and very cautiously and carefully moved it to rest gently across her shoulders, giving her plenty of time to react and watching her face carefully. To his surprise, mere seconds later, she shrugged off his arm, clambered across his lap, and popped herself down so she was sat sideways across his legs, then tugged his arm around her shoulders again. Teddy was surprised but secretly pleased that he seemed to have fully gained her trust, and he tried to suppress his smile as she leant her head against his chest. 

 

Elsie had caught Madeline’s flinch, and stopped in her tracks, still a good distance away from the pair. Harry looked between them, then spoke in a calm, clear tone.

“Elsie’s filled me in. We’re just going to stand here, we don’t want to hurt anyone.”

Teddy cut in, focusing his attention on the area above them that was shifting and swirling the most.

“I’d really like it if you came down. I’m sure Madeline would make space if you wanted to sit on my lap with her?”

There was a soft rumble, and a very slow movement towards Teddy. After an agonisingly long few moments, Madeline’s twin reappeared as a child. He chose to sit beside Teddy, but he leant slightly against him as he reached up to hold his sister’s hand. 

 

“So, we were talking about your name. Do you have any ideas? It’s OK if you aren’t sure.”

His bottom lip was wobbling dangerously again, and the tears had started to flow down his face. Teddy conjured a tissue, but said nothing more. 

“F-f-f-Fr-Frankens-ss-st-stein!”

“Hey, look at me. I’m not going to let you be called Frankenstein, because you are not a monster. OK?”

Teddy had almost forgotten about Harry’s presence when he spoke up again. 

“You know, people used to call Teddy’s father a monster, but now he’s remembered as a hero. He never was a monster, he was always a kind, brave, great man, no matter what people said.”

The twins’ eyes were as wide as saucers as they flicked their gazes between Harry and Teddy. At almost the exact same moment, they both stopped looking between the adults, and turned to each other. 

 

Teddy got the sense that the children were somehow silently communicating, though he couldn’t pick up on anything that would even remotely indicate how or what. Madeline eventually reached up and gently patted Teddy’s jumper to get his attention, as if she hadn’t already had it. 

“Teddy, was your Dad really called monster?”

“His name was Remus, but yes, some people used to call him a monster. He was always a good person, he couldn’t help… the thing that made people say he was a monster.”

“Like Gwendoline?”

“Exactly like your brother.”

 

The boy in question gave Teddy’s sleeve a very quick, light tug, then looked away sharply. Teddy could make out the way he was chewing his bottom lip and his brow was creased, even as his face pointed down to the floor. His voice was quiet and slightly shaking with nerves. 

“Can I- can I be- can I be called Remus?”

Teddy blinked several times and tried to swallow the tears that were welling inside him, but he choked on the words when he opened his mouth, finding himself incapable of saying anything. Luckily, Harry stepped in to express what Teddy couldn’t. 

“Is that what you’d like? You choose any name you want, and you don’t have to decide now. But if you would like to be called Remus, I’m sure Teddy’s father would have felt truly honoured.”

 

Madeline was looking at Teddy with open curiosity, mingled with a touch of concern. She spoke in the loud half-whisper again. 

“Why you crying?”

“I’m sorry. It’s just, that name means a lot to me. It would be- I would be very touched if you chose to take my father’s name, but please, only call yourself Remus if that’s what  _ you  _ really want. This isn’t about me, or my father, or anyone else. This is about you, and what you want.”

There was a look of awe, shock and slight bewilderment across the little boy’s face. Teddy got the impression that these children’s opinions and desires were not often considered, but he tried not to dwell on that disheartening thought. Once again, the child looked towards his sister for moral support. It was Madeline who spoke next. 

“Gwendoline want be called Remus.”

Teddy very gingerly touched the boy’s face, delicately encouraging him to look up. When their eyes met, Teddy spoke as softly and kindly as he could. 

“Is that right? You would like your name to be Remus?”

The nod was so fleeting, it was almost imperceptible, but Teddy caught it, and was finally satisfied that Remus truly wanted to take Teddy’s father’s name. 

 

Harry smiled directly at Remus. 

“Well, that’s settled then. Remus, are you feeling a little better now? Would it be OK for Elsie and me to come over there?”

Remus scrambled up to a standing position and moved as close as he physically could to Teddy, who gently lifted his arm up and placed it protectively on his small back. Remus leant into his side and then nodded in response to Harry’s question. When they reached Teddy and the twins, Elsie crouched down and began to reach out towards Madeline, but stopped when she visibly cowered away, an alarmed look on her face. Teddy could tell that Elsie was slightly offended, though she quickly covered her discomfort with a kind smile and subtly gave the children a little more distance. 

 

Harry motioned towards the crumbling, dust filled, blackened house around them. 

“This place is in need of a bit of a clean up, and so are you two, by the looks. How about we head back to the ministry, the pair of you can have a nice warm shower, we’ll find you some clean clothes, and we can get our restoration team in here?”

Teddy could sense the twins’ reluctance, so he gave them both a gentle squeeze, and reassured them that he would stay by their sides to make sure that everything was OK. He still couldn’t quite believe that they had decided to put their faith and trust in him, but when they both tentatively agreed to go to the ministry, he felt equally lucky and nervous, conscious that he needed to be very careful not to do anything to lose their confidence. 

 

Teddy carefully nudged Madeline off his lap and stood up. He held out an arm to each of the children, and was surprised when Remus didn’t take his hand as he had intended, instead holding up both of his arms in a clear request to be picked up. Madeline had taken his hand in hers, but when she saw her brother being hitched up onto Teddy’s hip, she too asked to be carried. Harry gave Teddy a knowing, slightly amused look, and conjured a strange strap with two blocks on it, which he wrapped around Teddy’s waist, arranging it so each block took one of the twins’ weight. Surprisingly, neither of them flinched away from Harry as he leant in to do this. At Teddy’s raised eyebrow, his godfather explained. 

“You must remember all those years when my kids had to be carried absolutely everywhere? Your husband was the worst culprit, though he was actually always better when you were around…”

“What can I say? James obviously just realised walking with me was way better than being carried.”

“I should have guessed back then really, shouldn’t I?”

Elsie cleared her throat.

“Lovely as this son-in-law, godfather bonding is, these kids are literally covered in dust. Care to start moving?”

Chastised, they followed Elsie’s instructions. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise there’s more James in the rest of the fic!


	2. Some months previously...

“Uncle Jamie, I’m over hereeee!”

“I’m not Uncle Jamie, I’m the TICKLE MONSTER and I’m coming to GET YOU!!”

The sounds of the children’s delighted squeals carried across the garden, to where Teddy sat watching his husband laughing as he chased the youngest Weasleys around. To any onlooker, James would have appeared carefree and unconditionally joyful, but Teddy knew better. He could see the way his smile was a little too wide to be genuine, he didn’t miss the way his eyes occasionally darted wildly; the little signs that James wasn’t as comfortable as he lead everyone to believe, the subtle indications that the playful exterior was hiding pain and grief too raw to share with anyone but Teddy. 

 

As he sat there, watching the man he loved putting on a brave face just to cope with a family gathering, Teddy found himself thinking back to a time when James was nothing more to him than his godfather’s eldest son, nothing more than a teenage boy that he sort of loved like family, but truthfully didn’t know that well. It had been a day much like this one, the sun shining over the family as Molly encouraged everyone to overeat and George tried out his latest inventions. Normally, James would have spent the entire time trying to consume as much junk food as he could with the other kids his age, but that day, he had sought Teddy out. 

 

As they made their way away from the group, Teddy could feel the nerves radiating off James. They reached a large tree, and James plopped himself unceremoniously onto the floor. Watching the way he anxiously fiddled with his sleeves and was avoiding eye contact, Teddy became increasingly concerned. James was normally the most outspoken, cocky, confident thirteen year old Teddy had ever met, so seeing him this quiet was strange and unwelcome. He sat down beside him and waited. 

 

It didn’t take too long before James began to speak. 

“Teddy, can I ask you something? You have to promise not to tell anyone else.”

“Yeah… OK, I promise.”

“You know ages ago, when you had that conversation with Dad, when you said you weren’t straight?”

Teddy almost snorted. He wasn’t likely to forget that night, it had been one of the most terrifying experiences of his life. 

 

Keeping it to himself had suddenly become too much, and he’d announced to his godfather and the rest of the family at the dinner table that he thought he might not be straight. Harry’s face had crinkled as if he had just been hit with some terrible, upsetting news, making Teddy’s heart race and his stomach drop, but then Harry had whispered. 

“You should be having this conversation with your Dad. This is the kind of thing… He should be here…”

He had then cleared his throat, blinked the tears that had been welling away, and visibly shook himself.

“Alright. Sorry about that. OK. So you don’t think you’re straight. Well, I think Remus would have been happy if you were happy, you know there are rumours he was with Sirius at Hogwarts?”

Teddy nodded. 

 

“And what about you? What do you think about it?”

“Me? Teddy, you have to know that I’ve always been massively honoured to be your godfather and will love you no matter what, right? I couldn’t care less who you fall in love with.”

Harry’s brow had furrowed right after he finished the statement, and he had drawn a new breath and begun speaking again before Teddy could respond. 

“Actually, scratch that. I do care who you fall in love with. I hope that they love you as much as you love them, that they make you laugh, but that they laugh with you not at you, that they’re there for you on your darker days and never judge you, that they don’t try to stop me being part of your life, that they are kind and nice and they make you feel like you’re the most amazing human they’ve ever met. I want them to understand how lucky they are to have the love of Teddy Lupin, because he’s an incredible, kind hearted, amusing young man. You find yourself someone who meets all of those criteria, and I don’t give a shit what their bits are like. And please never make me think about their bits ever again.” 

 

Teddy had laughed through his tears at that, and stuttered out a thank you. Harry had then pulled Teddy into a warm hug, which was only broken when a voice beside them at the table piped up. 

“Soooo, is Teddy gay, then?”

Teddy had panicked slightly at the question. He hadn’t been sure how to describe himself back then, hadn’t worked out he was bisexual yet. Luckily, Harry picked up on this and hastily answered his son’s question. 

“That’s a good question, James. Thing is, sexuality is hard to figure out, and there are all sorts of different words that people use describe to themselves, so while Teddy has told us he doesn’t think he just likes girls, he might not have worked out yet which one he would use to describe himself, it might be gay, or bisexual, or pansexual or a number of other options. He doesn’t have to pick one now, or even ever. We’ll love him just the same no matter what. Does that make sense to you?”

“Uh huh. Yeah, I guess. Can we have ice cream? Pleaseeeee?”

 

James was looking at Teddy with wide, questioning eyes, and he realised he had been so lost in the memory that he’d forgotten to answer.

“Yeah?”

“How-how did you know? Like, how could you tell?”

“How did I know I wasn’t straight, you mean?”

“Yeah.”

“Um. Well. I guess, I just kind of… Errr. How can I put this?”

Teddy ran a hand through his hair. He had never been good at articulating anything like this, and much less to someone so young, but he knew that it was important he gave James a proper, honest answer.

“I found that I started to notice the way certain boys looked, in the same way that I noticed how some girls looked. And I started to think about how I’d like to erm… get closer to those people?”

“Like you wanted to kiss them?”

“Yes, exactly, like I thought kissing them would be nice.”

“Oh.”

 

James was silent for a moment. Teddy internally debated whether he should say something or not. 

“I… I think I might be gay.”

James’ voice cracked as he said it, the imminent tears clearly audible. 

“Hey, aw, James, it’s OK, you don’t need to cry. Being gay isn’t a bad thing!”

“It is a bad thing!”

Teddy froze. He didn’t quite know what he’d do if James started spouting homophobic nonsense. 

“Why? Why would you say that Jamie? You know we’ll always love you, no matter who you date, don’t you?”

James made a noise of frustration, 

“Yes. I know. It’s just. I don’t  _ want _ to be gay. I want to fall in love with a girl and get married and have children. I want to be a dad.”

James’ voice was barely a whisper by the time he finished speaking. 

“James, you can still get married if you’re gay. And you can definitely still have children, if that’s what you want. Aoife’s dads are gay, and they have loads of kids. You can be gay and still be a dad.”

James had believed Teddy, his tears had dried and he had bounced back to his usual self within less than five minutes. 

 

Thinking back, Teddy cursed his own naivety, hated himself for thinking life could be that simple. James had trusted him, had looked up to him, and had taken Teddy’s word that everything would be alright. James had never told him he resented how wrong his reassurances had turned out to be, but that didn’t mean he didn’t feel it, and Teddy wouldn’t blame him if he did. 

 

When they had finally got together, it had never been a question or a conversation they had needed to have, it was simply understood that one day they wanted to have children together. Like everything with James, there had been no introductory period, no time when they’d tentatively dated as their affections slowly grew. Instead, he had seen James as nothing more than a good friend, until after one drunken night Teddy found himself waking up beside him and had realised that he never wanted to wake up without him there again, and that he was, in fact, in love with him. James had proposed less than 6 months later. 

 

Adopting had felt like it was the right option for them, mostly because they wanted to provide a loving home for a little person who may otherwise not have one, but also because they could both see some kind of poetic symmetry surrounding Teddy’s and Harry’s sort of adopted status, as if them adopting would complete a circle somehow. The ministry assessor had not agreed. She had held stiflingly traditional, bigoted views about “children needing a mother” and had unceremoniously dismissed their application. Unfortunately, on the day their appeal against the rejection was held, James was on the front cover of the Prophet in a heated dispute with a Quidditch referee, and Teddy was sporting a hideous, swollen black eye from where he’d been caught in the crossfire when attending a drunken brawl at work. Needless to say, they hadn’t come across as the gentle, loving parents they knew they could be, if only they were given the chance.

 

When Albus and Scorpius had mentioned that they were thinking of using a surrogate service in America to have a baby, James had turned to Teddy with bright, hopeful, excited eyes and Teddy wouldn’t have been able to say no if he had wanted to. In reality, he had been just as enthusiastic about the idea as his husband. Albus and Scorpius had spent months obsessing over the choice of egg donor, surrogate mother and biological father of their child, but Teddy and James were only concerned about a healthy little baby arriving at the end of the process, they would love them fiercely, no matter their physical appearance, IQ level, and whatever else James’ brother was worrying about. 

 

In the end, they had gone for the same egg donor as Albus and Scorpius, and a surrogate who came highly recommended. After two rounds of trying, Albus and Scorpius’ surrogate fell pregnant. It took an extra 3 rounds for Teddy and James to receive the exciting news that their child had been conceived, but when it finally happened, they were ecstatic. Keeping quiet for the first trimester had been a challenge when both of them wanted nothing more than to grab their broomsticks and  _ Sonorous _ their happy news up and down the country. When the first three months was up, it turned out that everyone had guessed anyway, from the way neither of them had been able to keep the huge smiles off their faces. 

 

Teddy didn’t like to think of that period of unadulterated joy anymore, to remember how incredibly happy and excited they had both been. It hurt too much, now that he knew the ending. 

 

Five months and nine days after they had found out that their baby was on the way, they received the heartbreaking news that their baby’s heartbeat could no longer be detected. Thirty six horrific, draining, and emotional hours later, they had travelled to America, seen their beautiful baby son, and returned home with his tiny, fragile, eternally sleeping form. They had read him children’s stories and told each other that he had flown past the second star to the right and straight on ‘till morning, and was playing in Neverland with all the other lost boys. 

 

After they scattered their son’s ashes, James had been inconsolable, and hadn’t left their bed for a week. He hadn’t understood how Teddy could continue to go to work, how he wasn’t incapacitated by his grief, and had accused him of not really wanting the baby. Teddy had never felt more alone. He could understand James’ reaction, Merlin knew he wished he could do the same, but unlike his husband, he had been mourning since he could remember, mourning for people taken before he could know them, mourning for a life he would never live. The grief was undoubtedly different, the pain was sharper and more crushing when it came to his child, but the loss of his parents had taught Teddy to compartmentalise, to pull up a mask and to force himself to do whatever was expected of him, no matter how he felt inside.

 

Eventually, with a lot of gentle encouragement from Teddy, James had picked himself back up and started to leave their house, began to care about what he ate again, and returned to Quidditch practice. Neither of them suggested they try the process a second time. They couldn’t risk feeling this amount of pain again. It had taken a full year for James to attend a family event, and even now, he made a beeline for the children and played with them the whole time, unable to cope with the pitying looks the adults sent him. 

 

Teddy knew that James would spend the rest of the evening wrapped up in his arms, sobbing. He tried not to let the guilt overwhelm him. He wished that he could turn back time and say something different when James had come out to him, anything other than his confident assertion that he could definitely become a father and be gay. They shouldn’t have been mutually exclusive, it should have been possible, but Teddy should have realised that there were more challenges between gay couples and parenthood than there were for straight couples, and even they struggled sometimes. Nothing in life is ever guaranteed. 

 

Teddy would choose James above everything and anything. If he had the chance to go back and live another life, a life with children maybe, but a life without James, Teddy knew he would never take it. He loved James so completely that he couldn’t imagine being happy without him by his side, and he would suffer through all the misery again, just to have his love. The hardest part for him was knowing that he could never give to James what James had given him, could never be everything he wanted and needed. The one thing he had wanted in life was a family, and Teddy had failed to make that happen. He couldn’t help but wonder whether James would still have chosen him, chosen their marriage, chosen their life together, if he had known what was to come. 

 

The sound of James’ Aunt Angelina announcing it was time for the ever popular eat-a-doughnut-dangling-from-the-washing-line-with-no-hands competition startled Teddy back to the present day. The children instantly flocked to claim themselves doughnuts, but Teddy kept his focus on his husband. Scorpius, the most painful person for James to interact with, no matter how lovely he was, called him over to where he and various adults were standing near the barbecue. James’ eyes widened like a deer in headlights, flickering wildly across the group until they landed on Teddy. The panic on his face immediately calmed a little at the sight. Teddy was already beginning to stand up when James held his arm out, tilting his head slightly in a silent request for support. 

 

When they reached the others, James took the hand Teddy offered, tugging it around him while reaching for his other arm, encircling himself in Teddy’s embrace. He didn’t let go of Teddy’s arms once they were wrapped around his front, their fingers now entwined, as James turned to the conversation he had been drawn into.

 

It started off OK. As usual, their family brought up the Quidditch league, an easy, safe topic that didn’t make Teddy and James’ hearts ache, not that any of them truly understood the effects their other conversations could have. Scorpius, Lucy, and Rose then got into a debate about some new theory on combining spells and potions in healing, and Teddy felt James begin to relax in his arms. Unfortunately, at this point, the doughnut competition ended with an argument over who had won. Scorpius rushed to fuss over his daughter, Rose went to break up the impending fight and Lily yelled at her kids, turned back to the group, and began to rant about how awful they had been lately. 

 

The humble-bragging, where parents gushed over how well their little munchkins had been doing in school, was just about bearable for both James and Teddy. They understood the pride, and tried to be genuinely pleased about their nieces and nephews and second cousins’ successes, tried very hard not to begrudge their family’s happiness. But even Teddy struggled with the complaining, and he was the more tolerant, cool headed, and understanding of the two of them. On a logical level, he could see that parents needed to vent and to express frustration sometimes, but on an emotional level, he just couldn’t comprehend how insensitive their family could be, couldn’t help but hate their ingratitude, when he and James would love to have children to stop climbing trees or whatever else it was that Lily and the others were bemoaning. 

 

As soon as the topic had been brought up, James’ grip tightened on Teddy’s hands. He slowly rubbed circles with his thumbs, subtly trying to offer James a little comfort. More than once, James’ patience had snapped and he had ended up shouting or snapping snide insults. It had never happened when Teddy was around, but he’d dealt with the aftermath, witnessed the strange mix of guilt and anger and pure hurt that James always suffered when he hadn’t been able to hold himself back. 

 

The pair of them had developed a foolproof tactic to get themselves out of any conversation when it became too much, and Teddy felt James initiate this a few minutes into the rant. He leant up and began to place small kisses along Teddy’s jaw, working his way up until he reached his ear lobe, giving it a gentle nip before moving back down towards his chin again. It wasn’t anything explicit or obscene, but they found even this small public display of affection made people feel uncomfortable enough to want to end their conversations with the two of them. As expected, the group dispersed, leaving Teddy to lean down and murmur a “do you want to go?” to James. They didn’t stop to say goodbye to anyone before they Apparated back to their home, still wrapped up in each other’s arms. 


	3. Present Day

When Teddy, the twins, Harry, and Elsie reached the Department for Magical Law Enforcement, they found the mother leaning on Harry’s secretary’s desk, impatiently tapping an unlit cigarette against it. Teddy felt both children cling to him a little tighter at the sight of their mother, and he gave them each a gentle squeeze and very quietly murmured reassurances to them as she began a tirade. 

“Fucking finally! I’m gagging for a fag. Hand the brats over and we can get the fuck outta here and I can finally have a bloody smoke. I’ve been here hours, and apparently even a tiny little fag ain’t allowed in this hellhole.”

Harry’s face was schooled into a carefully blank expression, which Teddy knew from experience meant that inside he was absolutely fuming. He pointedly told his secretary, Layla, to take the woman to an interview room. 

 

When they had disappeared down the corridor, Harry turned to them, now firmly back into his Head Auror role. 

“Right. OK, Teddy, I know you’ve told these kids you’ll stay with them, and they seem to have taken a liking to you, so if you head to the department showers to give them a wash...You’ll need a second adult, so Layla will be over as soon as she reappears. I’ll firecall Ginny and get some of Lily and James or Albus’ old pyjamas for them to wear for tonight. We will need your account of the incident though, are you happy to give Elsie a copy of your memory? And Elsie, if you can speak to the first Aurors on the scene and watch Teddy’s memory, we can start the interview in say, an hour?”

Teddy popped Madeline onto the secretary’s desk, summoned a vial from under it and siphoned off his memory, before scooping the little girl back up again, all the while keeping Remus balanced on his other hip.

 

Layla caught up with them just as they reached the showers. She somehow managed to both scrunch up her face and pout at the same time, grumbling that she hated kids. Teddy rolled his eyes and told her that they didn’t seem too keen on her either, which was entirely true, given the suspicious looks being shot her way. Layla was known across the department for being lazy, ditsy, and disinterested, but Harry was a sap who hated firing people so he rarely complained about her incompetence. When they entered the bathroom, she glanced around, threw a disgusted look at the perfectly serviceable wooden benches and conjured a chair, ungracefully flopping into it and disappearing behind the latest copy of Witch Weekly. Teddy sighed. He hadn’t expected any help from her, anyway. 

 

Teddy set the twins down on the benches and went about finding towels, soap and shampoo. Neither of them had moved when he turned back to them, except to join their hands together. 

“Come on guys, you’ll feel much cleaner after a nice shower.”

He received two slightly nervous, confused stares.

“How about we start off with your hair, it’ll be easier to shampoo if we give it a quick brush now.”

Madeline startled as he approached her with a hairbrush. Teddy tried desperately to work out what had made them both go back to being so twitchy. 

 

“Have… have you not had a shower before? Are you used to having baths?”

Madeline shook her head firmly. 

“You haven’t had a shower? Or you aren’t used to having baths?”

“We don’t shower and we don’t bath.”

“So… how do you normally get clean?”

“Mummy wands us.”

“Your mother usually just cleans you with a  _ Scourgify _ ?”

The twins both nodded. Teddy hoped his face wasn’t betraying his absolute horror. 

“Yeah.  _ Scourgify _ .”

Teddy felt like his insides had turned to ice. He couldn’t fathom how a mother could ignore all the advice that proper washing was best and instead use a spell to clean her children. He tried to withhold judgement; he couldn’t possibly know the whole story. 

 

Teddy pushed it from his mind and began to teach the children how the shower worked and explain how they could wash themselves. It all seemed to be going quite well until he went to take off Remus’ awful ‘Gwendoline’ hairband. Remus recoiled from the touch as if he had been stung. Teddy got down to his level and met his eye. 

“Remus, can I please take your hairband off? It’ll get wet in the shower, and you can put it back on after, if you want?”

The look of pure terror on his face didn’t make sense, and Teddy realised with a sinking feeling that he was missing something. 

“Remus? What’s wrong? Why don’t you want to take your hairband off?”

Remus’ bottom lip was beginning to wobble dangerously and his eyes were filling with tears. 

 

He remained silent, it was Madeline who answered Teddy’s question. 

“We not allowed.”

“You’re not- you’re not allowed?”

Two vigorous head shakes gave him the answer. Teddy felt like his own head might be about to explode. 

“Alright. OK. Well, I’m saying that you are allowed to take off your headbands. OK?”

They still looked very sceptical. Teddy crouched in front of Madeline and slowly reached up to take the hairband between his hands. He gently pulled at the hairband, expecting it to easily slide off her head. It didn’t. He applied more pressure, but still the hairband wouldn’t come off. Neither of the twins seemed surprised. Remus gave him a knowing look. 

“Mummy wanded it.”

 

There was a silence as Remus’ words sunk in. Their mother had magically glued their hairbands to their heads to prevent them from taking them off. Teddy took a deep breath. Then another. Both twins recoiled as he drew his wand, but he just  blocked everything out and focused on the memory of his wedding day, drawing on the happiness to summon his Patronus. 

 

Everything else now forgotten, the children looked at the glowing white light with awe. Teddy allowed them to interact with the wolf for a few moments, not wanting to send it away when tentative smiles were beginning to spread across their faces. Reluctantly, he apologised to the twins and gave the wolf his message, sending it off to Harry to inform him of the abhorrent cruelty he had just discovered. 

 

As Teddy had no idea what spell had been used, and he was not about to start casting spells anywhere near their heads, he gave up and tried his very best to ignore the hairbands as he continued to get them through the shower. He could still see the tension in their small shoulders and written across their faces, so he tried to make washing a game. He conjured a load of multicoloured body-polisher sponges, covered them in soap and placed one in each of their hands, then did an exaggerated dance-like movement to demonstrate scrubbing. It helped a bit, though he could still see the way they cringed as the warm water hit their thin, fragile, little bodies. The forced curls in their hair had been spelled rigid and Teddy found neither copious amounts of shampoo and conditioner, nor a simple detangling spell, did anything to help, so that too had to be left for the professionals. 

 

As promised, Ginny popped her head around the door part-way through and handed over two clean pairs of pyjamas in about the right size for the twins. She gave Teddy a brief hug and kissed his cheek as she left, which bolstered him more than he would have expected. There was a little confusion over the legs of the pyjama bottoms, trouser legs apparently yet another thing they had not experienced, but Remus was thrilled when Teddy explained that Albus’ old bright blue Thomas the Tank pyjamas used to belong to his brother-in-law, and that yes, his brother-in-law was a boy. From the way she kept running her fingers over the printed animals, Teddy got the sense that Madeline was equally enamoured with Lily’s old pyjamas. 

 

He was ushering the twins out of the showers when the Child Protection Officer showed up. Teddy stiffened, and he knew that Remus at least picked up on it, as he clamoured to be picked up again. Teddy hadn’t forgotten the adoption application that had been so unfairly rejected, though he did realise that this woman probably didn’t have anything to do with that, and he really tried not to act too coldly towards her. Madeline darted away from the officer when she tried to approach her, almost tripping Teddy in her rush to hug his legs, and Remus buried his face into Teddy’s shoulder when she tried to talk to him. She gave Teddy a curious glance, but gave the three space, just as Elsie had done. 

 

A little while later, Teddy was sat around a table with Harry, Elsie, and Fiona the Child Protection Officer. The twins had eventually been persuaded to play in a corner of the room when Teddy had cast another Patronus and assured them that the wolf would protect them. They’d put up a one-way silencing charm so the children couldn’t hear as they went through every detail of the situation. 

 

Teddy had assumed he’d met the worst of it when he’d discovered the disgusting stuck-to-the-head-bands, but Harry had even more to add. 

“In our interview, the mother disclosed that she became pregnant in an attempt to make a muggle man stay with her. I strongly suspect that foul play was involved, as although she did not directly mention infatuation potions, her description would fit the classic indications of their use. The twins were born and their father was a loving presence in their life for a couple of years until bang, one day he ‘freaked out’, as she put it, and left. She refused Veritaserum, so I can only speculate, but I theorise she stopped dosing the poor bloke with the potion, hoping his love for his children would make him stay. Obviously he did not. She spoke more about the father than the children themselves. She openly blames them for their father’s disappearance, declaring that they are ‘little bitches’ who are constantly being deliberately difficult. She stated that the child who became an Obscurial was ‘attention seeking’ with - and I quote - ‘this fucking ‘I’m a boy’ bullshit.’ She also claimed that no father would stay if their daughter were ‘too stupid’ to know their own gender. At this point, I’m afraid I had to suspend the interview.” 

 

Words failed Teddy as the new information sunk in. He cast a glance towards the two little people in the corner, currently laughing as the wolf chased its own tail. Suddenly, their affinity towards male adults made a lot more sense, though he didn’t like to think about the reason they found women intimidating. He started when Fiona began to speak. 

“Ah, yes, the Obscurial is obviously a big issue here. The child is clearly vulnerable and the utmost delicacy will be needed when it comes to care. You mentioned you believe it formed due to the gender identity issue?”

“Yes, he reacted badly to the name Gwendoline and it transpired it was because he hated the female name as he identifies as a boy. We agreed with him that we would address him using male pronouns and he chose a male name. He’s seemed a lot calmer since.”

 

There was a pause, the only noise an oblivious giggle from the corner. Fiona pursed her lips. Teddy braced himself for bigotry. 

“There are normally procedures and protective measures that have to be carried out before a name is selected and we start using different pronouns. We can’t just let a child change gender willy-nilly! But in this case, I can see that it has already escalated to a far more severe level than anything I’ve ever seen before, so I can appreciate that it was appropriate to apply corrective measures as soon as possible. We will need to get him to St Mungo’s for a full assessment and regular gender identity check ups, though. Obviously they need to go to there for the headbands anyway…”

 

Another silence hung in the air as they all contemplated the situation. Fiona finished writing a note and put her pen down decisively. 

“Right! So, I think it’s clear these children cannot return to the mother tonight, so will need emergency accommodation. Unfortunately, all of the foster homes I have available currently have at least one female foster carer, and it seems clear that would not create a positive environment for them, at least for now.”

Teddy looked down at the desk. He couldn’t really fathom letting the children out of his sight, he had grown attached to them even in the short time they’d spent together, and an emotive part of him felt like they needed him, they had trusted him specifically, and he couldn’t just let them go off with anyone because they were on Fiona’s stupid approved list. 

 

He was just trying to think of a way to beg her to let them stay with him, when Harry spoke up. 

“Listen, I think we can both agree that these kids are very vulnerable, and one of them is also volatile. None of us want a repeat of this afternoon’s destruction. For whatever reason, these children seem to have put their trust in Teddy. You cannot honestly tell me that you think sending them off with someone new would be better than keeping them with a man who has already worked wonders with them?”

Fiona looked harried and shuffled her papers. 

 

People tended to be intimidated by the mere concept of Harry Potter, and he was currently staring at her in a steadfast, unrelenting, uncompromising manner. 

“I’m so sorry. I can’t. If he has a wife I’d need to interview her, and their home would need to be assessed…”

“His  _ husband  _ is currently in my office.”

Teddy’s head jerked up at that. James was in Harry’s office? Since when? Why? Harry wasn’t looking at him and continued as if he hadn’t just dropped some wonderful, baffling news. 

“I’m sure he’d be happy to be interviewed. As for the assessment of their home, they applied to be adoptive parents a few years ago. Dig that out.”

Harry’s tone was firm and left no room for negotiation. 

 

Fiona was becoming more and more flustered. 

“You’re gay? Sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed! Oh. When you say they applied… they didn’t get rejected, did they?”

“Technically, I’d say I’m bi. We did, yes, why?”

“Oh gosh, I’m so sorry! There was a woman they had to let go, she kept rejecting applications for ridiculous reasons, mostly gay couples but there were others, recently I reviewed one couple who had been rejected because she thought their height difference was weird… I can only apologise. I’ll just run and find your application. I will still have to re-interview both potential foster carers if it was over 2 months ago, though. Do you want to get your husband in here?”

She rushed out of the room. Teddy thought James joining them was a marvellous idea. He looked hopefully to Harry, feeling like he probably needed his boss’ permission, and received an eye roll in return. 

 

Teddy removed the silencing barrier.

“Hey, Madeline, Remus? I need to send the wolf away for a minute, is that OK? You guys can come and sit up here with me until it’s back.”

The pair scrambled up to sit on his lap, and Teddy sent the Patronus to fetch James. He arrived a second later, completely out of breath. 

“Teddy? Are you OK? You didn’t come home and Dad ignored all my owls and then when I showed up here he said you were fine but busy but-...what…why are there kids on your lap in Lily and Albus’ old pyjamas?”

“It’s a long story. I’m sorry you worried, I promise I’m fine. I can’t believe you recognised the pyjamas, but anyway, come and meet Madeline and Remus.”

James eyebrows shot up at Remus’ name. He mouthed it back to Teddy, who could only mouth back a ‘later’. 

 

In a fairly awkward manoeuvre, Teddy stood and arranged the twins on his hips again. He took a step towards James, and with a tiny bit of concentration, he wordlessly and wandlessly removed the tie that was holding James’ shoulder length hair back. He looked confused for a moment, Teddy had learnt to do that for a very different kind of scenario, but this changed to understanding when he saw Remus’ reaction. He reached out to touch the hair with an expression of unadulterated wonder. His voice was breathy and amazed. 

“You is a boy. But you got hair like me.”

“I am! I do! You must be Remus?”

Remus nodded. Teddy’s heart was in the process of melting at how adorably understanding his husband was and at Remus’ little joyful face.

“Hi Remus, I’m Jamie. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too.”

“I is Madeline!”

“Hello Madeline! It’s lovely to meet you as well.”

Madeline beamed back at him. 

 

Fiona burst back through the door, making both twins tighten their clutch on Teddy. 

“Ah, I see your husband has-“

Fiona froze completely as Jamie turned to face her.

“Oh my god. I didn’t even look at the name. I didn’t. Oh my god. You’re James Potter. Oh my god.”

“Erm. Yep, that’s me. Professionally at least. For everything else I’m Lupin-Potter now.”

Harry often said he’d been bored with fame since 1991, and he cut in now to that effect. 

“Yes, he is James Potter. Yes, he is my son. Shall we get on with the task at hand now?”

“Yes, yes of course, I’m so sorry. I’m just such a massive fan, that last match, oh, you were incredible!”

“He’s always incredible, that’s why I married him.”

James grinned at Teddy and sent Fiona a wink. 

“We can get a picture later, if you like.”

Harry rolled his eyes again. 

 

Remus chose that moment to yawn. Elsie, still sat beside Harry, spoke directly to him. 

“Yes, quite, Remus. It is getting rather late, I’m not surprised you’re tired. I imagine you and your sister would like to get some sleep at some point this evening, wouldn’t you?”

Fiona hurried back into her seat and conjured a new one beside her for James. He glanced at it for a second but made no movement towards it. Teddy walked the children back over to the corner and crouched, gently encouraging the children to slide off his hips onto the floor. 

“I need to talk with the adults a little bit more now, are you guys OK to sit here and play again? It shouldn’t be for too long this time, and I’ll get the wolf to come back and look after you again. If you need anything, all you have to do is say my name, OK?”

The twins both nodded. 

 

Teddy stood slightly wearily, pulled out his wand and turned to his husband. 

“Can you smile at me for a second?”

James looked from Teddy’s wand to his face, surveying it intently. 

“Teddy… how long have you cast that Patronus for today? You look exhausted, and don’t think I can’t see that fine line of sweat on your forehead.”

He put his hand over Teddy’s and pushed it and the wand held in it down gently. 

“I’m not going to let you drain yourself magically.”

He turned to the children. 

“Hey, kids, how would you feel about a nice big dog looking after you, instead of the wolf? Or maybe a deer?”

The twins did their strange communication thing again, before Madeline spoke up. 

“Doggy!”

James smirked and sent a smug grin to his Dad, then looked at Teddy and cast his wolfhound Patronus. 

“Thank you. I love you.”

“It’s nothing, I love you too, you big wally.”

 

They returned to the table and Teddy sat down. James looked between the chair Fiona had conjured and Teddy for a second, then summoned the chair, and set it down right beside Teddy, placing his hand on his husband’s knee as he turned to face the group. Harry shook his head in a bemused way, but made no comment as he re-cast the one way silencing charm. In her typical no-nonsense manner, Elsie quickly filled James in on the situation. At various points, Teddy felt his grip tighten on his knee, but otherwise, James did little more than look disgusted and horrified in varying amounts. 

 

Fiona took over once Elsie had finished. 

“So, good news! Providing you haven’t changed address, I can approve your place of residence based on the previous assessment.”

James went very still and tense.

“What? Teddy, what’s she talking about?”

“Getting approval so we can look after the twins for the night. Why did you think you’d been brought in here?”

“I don’t know! Moral support? I thought Dad had just given in and made an exception because I threatened to talk about our sex life in front of him if he didn’t let you come home!”

Teddy snorted and Harry gave a pitiful groan. 

“You’re incorrigible. You’re OK with this though, right? They seem to trust me and what with their nerves around women-”

“Teddy, relax. Of course it’s OK. I’m just surprised, that’s all. Fiona, what’s next on the list?”

 

They made quick work of the interview process, especially as both of them consented to the use of Veritaserum, and Harry could vouch for their lack of criminal records. The process was considerably less painful when conducted by Fiona instead of a massive homophobe. When she got to the section detailing their appeal, she became distracted for a good five minutes complaining about the referee James had argued with and how James’ team had deserved to win. She then got Harry to confirm that he had sent Teddy on the mission which had given him the black eye and Elsie to countersign that she had witnessed the incident, and with that information, she effectively reversed the rejection. 

 

Fiona pulled out yet another piece of parchment from her folder with a flourish.

“Alrighty! I think that’s everything. I just need you to sign here, here and here to confirm that you now have emergency custody of the two minors, that you understand this custody could last any amount of time between one night and one year, and that you must remain in the country and easily contactable by the Department for Child Protection at all times. Do you have any questions?”

They shook their heads and both signed where she had indicated. 

“Awesome! OK, it really is quite late, Elsie I think you’re right that getting the children to bed should be the priority now. The hairbands should be alright for one night with a decent cushioning charm, so I will see you both at St Mungo’s tomorrow morning. Probably best to let them have a bit of a lie in… How does 11.30am sound?”

 

They agreed the meeting time, James took a picture with Fiona, and Harry promised to drop round more of the clothes Ginny had sentimentally kept from when their children were actually children. There was a flurry of motion as they explained what was going on to the twins before picking up their tired little bodies to carry them to the Floos. James’ long hair seemed to have truly warmed Remus up to him, to the extent that he consented to being carried by him, leaving Teddy with just Madeline. 

 

The twins were both asleep by the time they landed in the Lupin-Potter living room. Teddy and James shared a look for a long few seconds, conveying all of their nervousness, excitement, bewilderment, and uncertainty. Madeline stirred, breaking the moment, and they quietly moved the pair into the guest room and settled them each into a bed, spelling the linen into bright, welcoming colours. 

 

Neither of them felt like they wanted to abandon the children in an unknown room in a bizarre new house, so in the end they curled up together on the room’s sofa. Tomorrow, they would get those ghastly hairbands removed. Tomorrow, they would show the twins around the house properly. Tomorrow, they would slowly start to help them heal. Beyond that was unknown, but tomorrow they would do everything they could for the two beautiful children who lay peacefully sleeping in their home. 


	4. Epilogue

Teddy idly pushed the supermarket trolley through the fruit and veg section, pondering whether he felt like getting some grapes. His thoughts were interrupted by James rounding the corner and dropping a multipack of prawn cocktail crisps into the trolley, his eyes scanning the area around them distractedly. There were the foundations of panic beginning to show on his face, which grew to full blown hysteria as Teddy asked:

“Where are the kids?”

“I thought they were with you?”

“No, you said you were going to get crisps and they followed you!”

 

The trolley was abandoned as they began to sprint through the aisles.

“How could you let them out of your sight?”

“I thought they were with you!”

They ran through the frozen section and up past the cheese counter.

“What if Remus has an Obscurus attack?”

“Then we obliviate the whole shop.”

They checked the oriental food section, the bakery, and even the wine and beer, but there was still no sign of the children.

 

They were slowing, ready to turn around and race back through the shop again, when James grabbed Teddy’s arm, and pointed down the aisle to their left. There, hysterically laughing among the luridly packaged biscuits, were Madeline and Remus, apparently blissfully unaware that they had ever been considered lost.

 

Teddy paused for a second, trying to commit this moment to memory; from the pure unadulterated joy on the twins’ faces, to the bubbling sound of their giggles. It hadn’t been an easy year, but standing surrounded by sugary snacks, Teddy was suddenly overcome by how lucky he had been.

 

Remus was doubled over and clutching his side, a couple of tears falling from his eyes, only unlike the day they had met, they were now carefree tears of happiness. He had come so incredibly far, and Teddy was beyond proud. It was hard to believe he was still the same boy who had been so overwhelmed the first time he had been taken shopping to choose his own clothes, that they had had to hide in the changing rooms, and get Madeline and James to bring a limited number of options. Now, Remus knew exactly what he wanted to wear; for the past two months he had actively refused to wear anything but a wolf onesie. James and Teddy were thrilled he was making his own choices and secretly dreaded the day he decided to wear something less fluffy and stopped being so cuddly.

 

Teddy watched as Madeline put her hand on Remus’ shoulder for support, her whole body shaking with the force of her laughter. At this rate, the pair of them would soon be rolling around on the floor. Teddy shot a cleaning charm at it, just in case. While she had never been as quiet as her brother, it still felt like every single day they saw Madeline’s confidence grow and her sparkling personality shine through a little more.

 

She had certainly developed her own sense of style. The only continuous theme in her outfit choices seemed to be colour and brightness; her raincoat was fluorescent yellow, her favourite trousers striped with blue and orange, and her favourite top was a tie-dyed sunset coloured affair. She had really outdone herself today, having recently been introduced to the concept of tutus by Lily and her godmother Luna. Madeline was a big fan of the odd, gauzy, muggle skirts, to the extent that she was currently wearing twelve, with the multicoloured one at the top of the stack all the way up under her armpits. It almost made her look like a bumblebee that had been caught in a rainbow charm. Teddy couldn’t help but smile back at her when she beamed straight at him.

 

Teddy was torn from his sentimentality by James’ voice, slightly raised to be heard over the children’s laughter.

“Alright, what’s got you two in stitches?”

Madeline looked like she was trying to answer, but she couldn’t catch her breath through the giggles.

“Come on, what’s so funny?”

Remus was clearly desperately attempting to control himself enough to speak.

“L-l… look!...”

He held up a bright red packet.

“It’s a pack of biscuits…?”

“Noooooooo”

Madeline’s extended vowel was cut off by a hiccup, but she valiantly persisted.

“Th-hic-they’re-hic-J-hic-Jamie-hic-Dodg-hic-gers!”

Remus finally managed to stop himself laughing for long enough to get an entire sentence out, pointing at James:

“He was named after a BISCUIT!!!”

The statement reignited the twins’ hysterics, the sound somehow now even louder than before.

 

Teddy shared a bewildered, bemused look with James. Neither of them would ever complain about something that was clearly sparking so much joy for the twins, but that didn’t mean they understood quite why it was so funny that Jammie Dodger sounded a little bit like Jamie. The laughter was catching, and Teddy watched James’ face crinkle into a smile of his own, the last of the panic fading, replaced by a kind of happy, uncomplicated contentment, the underlying tension that had plagued his every expression for the past few years finally gone. They would always mourn for the son they lost, for the life that he could have lived, but they no longer had to mourn for their chance to become parents.

 

They had become incredibly fond of the twins that very first night they had brought them home, and they had admitted to each other that they loved the children after only a couple of days together, which had made it incredibly difficult to remember that they had only been ‘temporarily placed in their care’, and could be ripped away by a title and a clipboard at any point.

 

They had nicknamed the woman who had caused so much harm ‘bigot-brain’ and tried their best not to follow her trial, but it was apparently the news story of the day; it was plastered everywhere that she had changed her plea again, people in the street chattered about how they had tracked down the muggle father, and the prosecutors repeatedly demanded testimonies they had already been given. The only saving grace was that the blanket injunction to protect minors from harassment that Harry and Hermione had campaigned for after the war was still in place, so while the press had definitely figured out that James the Quidditch Star was looking after the children, they could report nothing.

 

Fiona managed to keep the twins out of the trial, saying there was plenty of evidence without making them endure a lawyer’s interrogation. Teddy and James both had to take to the stands and answer a relentless torrent of intense and aggressive questioning, but it was worth it when bigot-brain was sentenced to imprisonment and the jury unanimously stripped her of all parental rights and access to the children. Remus and Madeline did, however, have to attend the permanent custody hearing after their biological father relinquished his claim to raise them. They mostly seemed to find it boring, a stark contrast to the ridiculous level of stress and terror that their then foster-fathers experienced.

 

The terror turned out to be for nothing. Madeline firmly told the judge that she would like to go home now please, leaving the obviously very clear but unsaid when pushed to clarify that ‘home’ meant Kera Fab Cottage (the Lupin-Potter house). In contrast, her brother had taken one look at all the people and started crying and calling out to Jamie and Teddy. When the judge finally gave in, and allowed James to join the child in the stand, Remus had immediately stopped his agitated fidgeting, allowed his eyes to be dried, and relaxed into James’ comforting embrace. James denied it, but Teddy was certain that the tender way his husband had stroked Remus’ hair while gently encouraging him to answer the judge’s questions had been what finally convinced the court to make their dreams come true by naming them the legal parents of Madeline and Remus Lupin-Potter.

 

James and Teddy were beyond ecstatic with the news, and couldn’t wait to tell the twins that they would now be a proper family. They knew that the social worker had sat down with them to explain the trial process and what would happen, but they had been given strict instructions not to speak to the children about the custody hearing, and warned that doing so could be considered contempt of court and sabotage their chances at adopting the twins.

 

Now that they were finally able to discuss the future with the children, they had agonised over what to say, how best to explain that they were desperate to be a permanent part of their lives and to be their new parents. They had been scared that using words like parents and son and daughter would be asking too much, given the history, so in the end they settled for telling the twins that nothing had to change, except now they could be Lupin-Potters, just like Jamie and Teddy, and they would always have a home at Kera Fab Cottage. The children seemed happy with the news, though not entirely shocked; apparently having been told that if they made it clear to the “custard people” that they wanted to stay with James and Teddy forever, they probably could. It was an almost overwhelming relief to learn that the twins actually wanted to live with them, and James and Teddy couldn’t have felt more lucky if they had won every lottery on the planet. In celebration, they had made a massive cake and sat around eating it together, as a little family unit, while discussing the way they would paint the children’s bedrooms, the places they would go and all the things they would do together.

 

In a way, saying that nothing would change was a lie. While it was true that the adoptive papers themselves didn’t alter their day to day routines, their lives had already evolved an incredible amount since the children had arrived, and they continued to adapt to new and different challenges as time progressed. It was a bit of a rollercoaster, and the past could spring up unexpectedly at any moment, yet for every difficult instance, another would surprise them with a sudden onslaught of pure brightness, much like the twins’ current fit of random laughter.

 

Lovely as the biscuit aisle was, they still needed to finish the food shop, or they’d be in for a very hungry week. Teddy crouched down, his arms outstretched towards his excitable son.

“Hey, Remus, can I pick you up?”

They had found that while the twins both loved physical affection like hugs, they appreciated a warning before being touched, and James and Teddy liked to ensure they always had the option to say no. Remus threw himself at Teddy by way of an answer. As he stood up, Teddy brushed Remus’ fringe out of his eyes, making a mental note to get it trimmed, and remembering the way he had gasped, given an overjoyed grin, and admired his appearance in the mirror when they first took him to the hairdressers and let him choose the style himself.

 

James had scooped Madeline up too, and the family began to make their way back to the fruit and veg section to reclaim their trolley at a far more sedate pace than Teddy and James had left it. They had barely made it a few paces when Remus piped up.

“Jaaaaammmie?”

“Yes, Remus-my-dreamus?”

“You know how you’re named after a biscuit?”

“I think my parents were more thinking of my grandfather than Jammie Dodgers, but yes?”

“Can we call you Jammie Dad-ger? ‘Cause it’s like your name and you’re sort of like our Dads?”

Madeline’s voice held a scandalised tone as she hissed at her brother.

“Remus! We said we weren’t going to ask!”

Teddy felt Remus stiffen in his arms. A quick look at James told him that his husband was equally taken aback by the turn the conversation had taken.

 

They had discussed at length whether they should ask the twins to call them some kind of Dad moniker when the adoption was finalised, but they didn’t want to overwhelm the children, and thought it would be less disruptive to stick to the status quo of first names. Plus, they couldn’t decide which of them would be Dad and who would be Papa or Father or any of the other options they had vaguely contemplated. Surprisingly, they even hadn’t thought of Jammie Dadger. That Madeline and Remus had considered, and evidently spoken about, what they called James and Teddy, shocked him more than it probably should have. Thinking about it, he could see that from a child’s perspective, using their parents’ first names could throw the legitimacy of the relationship into question, and that by attempting to protect the twins, James and Teddy might have accidentally left room for confusion and insecurity. The wave of guilt that washed over him was instantly joined by a desperation to fix the situation and stop his poor son and daughter from suffering as fast as humanly possible.

 

There had been a slight pause while the information sank in, but James now spoke in a quiet, calm tone, which Teddy knew hid a colliding mess of emotion.

“Remus, you can call me whatever you’d like, including Jammie Dadger. Teddy and I would like to think that we are your Dads, if you’re OK with that?”

Their son buried his head into Teddy’s neck, which didn’t entirely count as an answer. Teddy craned his neck back to get a look at Remus’ face and decided the shy smile he was hiding was proof enough that he was indeed happy to be their son, which was more than a bit reassuring. He sent a subtle affirmative nod to a slightly anxious James.

 

“Now, Madeline-who-makes-me-grin, you can always ask us anything, it doesn’t matter what it’s about. What was it you weren’t going to ask?”

Teddy watched his daughter’s eyes flicking between James, Remus and himself, as if she were trying to decide what to say.

“We wanted to ask you if we could call you our Dads.”

“Is that what you’d like to do?”

Madeline nodded her head, now looking down at her hands as she twisted her fingers together.

“We’d very much like it if you called us your Dads.”

Madeline’s eyes were adorably wide and innocent as she looked up at Teddy from James’ arms.

“Can we call you Daddy-bear?”

Teddy’s face could have cracked with the force of his smile. He leant forwards and planted a soft kiss on her forehead.

“I’d love that.”

 

That evening, Teddy tucked the twins cosily into bed, having assured Madeline that they would read the story about French Madeline’s dog saving her in the river again tomorrow night, and having made sure Remus had all six of his wolf cuddly toys with him.

 

The healing process wasn’t complete; that very evening they’d discovered Madeline had hidden a scraped knee rather than coming to ask for it to be healed and hugged better, Remus still needed the help of a play therapist to keep his magic under control, and there were countless other bumps and bends in the road, but none of that mattered. What did matter, were Remus and Madeline. What did matter, was their family. What did matter, was that their son and daughter were legally adopted, indisputably their family and permanently part of their lives.

 

Teddy pressed a kiss to Madeline’s forehead.

“Goodnight Madeline. Sleep well. I love you.”

“Night, Daddy-bear. Love you too.”

The too came out more yawn than too, making Teddy smile as he turned to Remus.

“Sleep tight my little wolf-boy. I love you.”

“Goooooodniighhttt Daddy-bear! Love youuuuu!”

James appeared in the doorway as Teddy kissed their son goodnight. He said his own goodnights, and they closed the door softly behind them, leaving their beautiful, incredible, amusing children to sleep peacefully.

 

James caught Teddy’s hand, stopping him in his path back downstairs.

“Hey, Teddy?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

“What? What for?”

“For… for being you, I guess. For not giving up on me. For loving me through the darkest times when I know there was very little to love. For sticking by my side through it all. For never making me feel like I shouldn’t dream, and I should be realistic or compromise on what I want in life. For being what I want in life. For everything. I just. I really love you, and I need you to know how happy I am. With you, with our family. So yeah. Thank you. For all that.”

Teddy captured James’ lips with his own, gently trying to pour everything he felt into the kiss.

“James, I love you more than words can describe. It was tough, and those days were painful, but they were part of my life with you, and I would choose you on your darkest, grumpiest days over anyone else in the universe. We got through it, and we’ll get through everything else the world decides to throw at us, together.”

James smiled against his lips.

“Together.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (The name Kera Fab cottage comes from the Greek word Keramos (pottery) and Fabaceae, the family to which Lupinus flowers belong.)

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!  
> I really hope you enjoyed it, I’m sorry for everything I did to the characters!  
> Constructive criticism is welcome :)


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